remember your purpose as the center of every story

today i’m pondering the word sonder, or how every person i cross has a unique story with various levels of problems and complexities, while also their own set of prescribed solutions, and how whether they are effective or provide at least some sort of relief, and the beauty that arises as you consider how wonderful the world is in its uniqueness and equally how wonderful it would be if each person found the solution to not just one of their many problems, and how energy directed in numerous external directions depletes energy from the main focal point of your heart, but instead helps them rise completely out of a sinking ship into heavenly air upon the lift of their human, yet God-gifted wings.

within every human, there is a story to be told, whether tragic or comedic or a combination of both. as storied creatures, we gravitate towards stories that resonate with us. such as Harry Potter, having been intricately connected to a dark power inextricable from his person, therefore taking it upon himself to face the prospect of death to conquer evil.

whether or not it is fiction is irrelevant, as the story for some reason or another resonated with millions, if not billions of people across the world. this story resonates, as do others because they reflect some deeply intertwined story found within our human experience, within our DNA, and more importantly within our hearts.

the best stories are the ones that speak to our hearts, therefore resonate, as somewhere deep inside we understand how that story speaks to an issue we are currently working through, then how it inspires, breathes life into us, by pointing out a perspective different than we previously we could have thought ourselves. by reading stories, you’re allowing someone to teach you how to fix a problem as they have already overcome that problem, without struggling through it on your own, the inefficient, trial and error way.

and how unfortunate would it be to not understand there even is a problem, to be completely unaware of a greater life that awaits you.

self-help and non-fiction how-to books do this to some, logical level, as they aim to tell a story based on facts. you read these books to learn something about their lives or the strategy implemented for overcoming some problem. if you read them without the intention of implementing their framework into your understanding and current operations, then what a waste of time that would be. they say don’t reinvent the wheel, well, what’s the point of reading if you are not seeking to learn how to overcome some problem, which 100 times out of 100 has already been conquered, however demoralizing or tragic it might be.

stories replicate over time. stories resonate and propogate when they strike a chord with the most amount of people, which means their hearts have been touched by the courage, creativity, and seemingly miraculous nature of the resolution.

this is similar to the STAR method commonly used in interviews, where the interviewee describes a time when… Situation, Task, Action, Response, and thereby exemplifies the ability for the candidate to tell a story. the better the story, the better it reflects the emotional depth to which they could illustrate their thoughts, the better chances they have of landing the job. story telling is the ability to empathize with another, therefore the very act of writing is placing yourself in your characters shoes and understanding the entire universe to which they create for the reader to digest.

if the writer does it, then far be it for you to read it as if they are not speaking directly to you.

to walk through the world by simply grinding through it like a lone army ranger crawling through a treacherous mud pit, isn’t very efficient, especially if there is a solution that could lift you, now, despite how adamant you are to crawl, as it’s the only thing you’ve ever known.

this is the critical importance of reading as a mechanism for learning, shifting your perspective, and rising out of your problems instead of plugging every hole only until another several million pop up.

if people read self-help books with the intention of applying something impactful to their lives, which only further enforces their logical brain’s power, however inspiring it may be, yet does very little to help the reader think for themselves, then how much greater would reading a story that paints an entire universe in your mind which also resonates with the most intimate recesses of our heart.

by reading stories, poetry, looking at art, listening to beautiful classical music, or songs that make us tap into the parts of us that don’t just make us feel happy, but remind us of what truly matters in this world, we are re-training our mind-heart connection, the divine spark of creativity in this world.

and if you look at these various forms of art and realize how each one is nothing without your eye to read, ear to hear, tongue to taste, or heart to feel, then you’ll realize that at the center of every story is not some distant character with crazy attributes or talents, but is in fact nothing more than you.

you are the center of every story, and the stories that resonate throughout humanity, these are the ones that hold the answers to every problem. by placing yourself at the center, or placing yourself in another’s shoes, or empathy, you begin to understand how love, not more logic, not more instruction and condemnation, but sharing the tragic hero’s experience to provide the rocket fuel for you to rise, therefore inspiring others to rise, by showing them that if you can do something that seems to be impossible, is the solution that you have always been waiting for.

without you, there is nothing worth living for. there is no life, love, or happiness, and there is no beauty. pure beauty lies directly within your heart, and when you realize that eternal happiness lies not as you struggle within and through your problems, but by releasing from them, rising, and experiencing the vibrant life you never could have known, you’ll never look back to the life that made you question where true love is found, and how putting everyone but yourself first, was the very problem all along.

the day in which we all live with our empathetic hearts shining above all else is the day of perfection awaiting every single one of us.

i encourage you, as you read my poems, my work, or read a fiction or non-fiction book, that you begin to place yourself at the center of that story, true empathy. when you read, read to learn for yourself how you can lift out of your problems and rise into higher levels, more divine levels of the human experience.

thank you so much for your support. i hope this message was inspiring. please be sure to share this with someone you might think would enjoy it.

in superabounding love,

david